The New Holy Trinity Church

The approach to the west end of New Holy Trinity church

The village of Wentworth and the surrounding Wentworth Estate is so full of good examples of Georgian stone built architecture, follies and various monuments that it would be easy to spend a long weekend here to fully appreciate all of them.

A view of the church tower from Hoober Stand

I have visited Wentworth innumerable times since I was first introduced to this magnificent village more than 35 years ago and, every time I go there, there is always something new that catches my eye or I see a familiar feature in a completely different light.

General views of the exterior

When I first saw the New Holy Trinity Church, built during the Gothic Revival in a 13th century style and consecrated in 1877, I remember being more impressed by the various details in the interior than the external fabric, which is a monotonous expanse of Carboniferous sandstone, without any kind of elaboration that makes the English mediaeval Gothic styles so interesting.

Stone vaulting to the porch

Once inside the porch, there is a fine stone vaulted ceiling where a distinctly yellow coloured sandstone is well exposed and this vaulting is seen on a much more spectacular scale along the nave and beneath the tower – another landmark in Wentworth that can be seen from miles away.

Stone vaulting to the nave and tower

 

In the interior, the masonry is again generally very austere and the few memorials scattered around the walls are all very simple but, for a geologist, they provide a few good examples of the best quality decorative stones that were available to the architect, J L Pearson, at the time that this church was built.

The reredos

The finely carved reredos stands out against the rest of the stone furnishings in the church but I wasn't able to closely examine it and get any ideas about its provenance - as well as the stones used in the intricate mosaic floor that stretches along the nave up to the altar – and these need further investigation.

A detail of a mosaic floor

The steps up to the altar, however, are easily identified as being Ashburton Marble, a very distinctive polishable Devonian limestone which was extensively used in the very finest Victorian buildings, but is now extremely difficult to obtain.

Ashburton Marble